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That was so annoying. Spencer groaned, making a face. She cheated Jason told her where it
was. She didn t even have to solve the clues. That s why I wanted to steal Ali s piece I didn t think
she deserved it.
Except you didn t get to steal it, Hanna singsonged. Because someone stole it first. And we ll
never find out who.
Aria coughed loudly. Bottled water spewed out of her mouth. Everyone turned to look at her.
I m fine, she assured them, wheezing.
The high school bell rang, and the girls broke apart. Spencer walked off quickly, barely saying
good- bye. Hanna lingered, tapping her iPhone. Emily fell in step with Aria. For a while, the only
sound was their shoes crunching through the icy crust of snow on the commons. Emily wondered if
Aria was thinking about the same thing she was could Ian be telling the truth? Was someone else
behind Ali s murder?
So you ll never believe who I ran into yesterday, Aria said. Jason DiLaurentis.
Emily stopped short. Her heart started to pound. Where?
Aria knotted her scarf tighter, seemingly nonchalant. I cut school. Jason was waiting for the
train to Philly.
A gust of wind kicked up, sneaking down the collar of Emily s shirt. I saw Jason the other day
too, she mustered, her voice raspy. I parallel- parked in back of him, and he accused me of dent-
ing his car. He was kind of& angry.
file:///C|/Users/Shanna/Desktop/Killer.html[29/08/2009 3:09:23 p.m.]
Killer
Aria gave her a sidelong glance. What do you mean?
Emily fiddled with the ski lift ticket that was affixed to her jacket s zipper. She suspected that
Aria used to like Jason, and she hated bad- mouthing people. Then again, Aria needed to know.
Well, he kind of screamed for a while. And then he lunged at me, like he was going to punch me.
Did you dent his car?
Even if I did, it was tiny. Definitely not worth freaking out about.
Aria shoved her hands in her pockets. Jason s probably really sensitive right now. I can t imag-
ine what this must be like for him.
That s what I thought, too, but& Emily trailed off, gazing concernedly at Aria. Just be careful,
okay? Remember what Jenna said to you. Ali said she had problems with Jason. He could ve been
abusing Ali, just like Toby was abusing Jenna.
We don t know if that s true, Aria barked, her eyes darkening. Ali wanted to find out Jenna s
secret about Toby. She would ve told Jenna anything to get her to talk. Jason was nothing but
sweet to Ali.
Emily looked away, staring blankly at the flagpole at the end of the school commons. She wasn t
so sure about that. She remembered the shouts coming from inside Ali s house the day they d
sneaked into Ali s backyard to steal her Time Capsule flag. Someone kept imitating Ali s voice. And
then there was a shattering sound and a thud, as if someone had been pushed. Jason stormed out
of the house moments later, his face fiery red.
In fact, now that she thought about it, the very first time Emily had ever seen Ali, Jason had
been teasing her. It was a few days before she started third grade, and Emily and her mom were at
the grocery store, picking out juice boxes and mini bags of Doritos for school lunches. A pretty blond
girl about Emily s age bounded right past them, skipping up the cereal aisle. There was something
intoxicating about her, probably because she was everything plain, introverted Emily wasn t.
They saw the girl again in the frozen foods section, peering into every case, trying to decide
what she wanted. Her mother trailed behind with a cart, and a boy, probably about fourteen, fol-
lowed, staring at a Game Boy. Mom, can we get Eggos? the girl cried, opening up a freezer door,
her smile big and gap- toothed. The teenage boy rolled his eyes. Mom, can we get Eggos? he im-
itated, his voice sharp and mean.
And just like that, the girl wilted. Her bottom lip wobbled, and she shut the door with a disheart-
ened thud. The mother grabbed the boy s arm. You know better. The boy shrugged and slumped
down, but Emily thought he deserved being yelled at. He ruined the girl s fun, simply because he
could. A few days later, when third grade began, Emily realized that the girl in the store had been
Ali. She was new to Rosewood Day, but she was so pretty and bubbly that everyone instantly want-
ed to sit next to her on the rug during show- and- tell. It was hard to believe anything would make
her sad.
Emily kicked an icy ball of snow down the sidewalk, quietly debating whether she should tell Aria
this. But before she could, Aria mumbled a terse good- bye and walked briskly toward the science
wing, the tassels at the ends of her earflap hat bouncing.
Sighing, Emily slowly climbed the stairs to her locker, ducking out of the way of a bunch of
younger boys from the wrestling team who were bounding down the stairs in the other direction.
Yes, she d learned that Ali had a way of manipulating people to get their secrets. And yes, she could
admit that Ali had a nasty streak Emily had been the victim of it too, especially when Ali teased
Emily in front of the others about the time she kissed her in the tree house. But Jenna wasn t pop-
ular, she wasn t Ali s friend, and she didn t have anything Ali needed. Sure Ali was mean, but there
was usually a grain of truth in what she said.
Emily stopped in front of her locker. As she was hanging up her coat, she heard a small snicker
behind her. She whirled around, gazing into the flood of students walking down the hall to home-
room. A familiar girl swam into view. It was none other than Jenna Cavanaugh. She was standing in
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